Professor Robert Winston

Modifying Humans

Beck Theatre, Hayes

Thu 11 May 2017

SHOW INFORMATION

Modifying Humans - Where Do Genetics Stop?

History shows that humans are obsessed with their genes.

Does the sequencing of the human genome really herald a new opportunity for medicine or is there a darker side that we ignore? IVF treatments now mean we can treat apparently hopeless sterility, help 65 year-olds to conceive, store eggs and embryos in the deep freeze for several hundred years, and screen embryos for serious genetic disorders before a pregnancy has even really begun.

And advances in gene technology mean that we can not only select embryos for ‘desirable’ characteristics but we can now modify genes of animals with remarkable ease; so possibly very soon we may be able to enhance humans by genetic modification.

Will ethical considerations prevent us from the next step - manufacturing stronger, more gifted and very intelligent children? Or will our imperfect knowledge of how our abilities are inherited mean that they there are some major surprises in store?